Avoiding the Sandstorm in the Sahel: A Reflection on Security, Migration and Development

Abstract:

The Sahel is a crucial region for policy-making at the European and international level. A security and strategic cornerstone for European powers since colonization and a key area in terms of development challenges, today the Sahel has gained new relevance due to the so-called “migration crisis”.

New policy tools implemented by the European Union, such as the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, target this region, but could deepen policy contradictions between securitization and development cooperation. A longer term perspective is greatly needed to tackle extreme poverty and to create local economic opportunity.

In order to explore the interconnection between the different policy areas of migration, development, security and peace in the region, the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), in collaboration with the Centre for African Studies (CSA) came together in Rome on 20 February 2018 to present the volume The Security-Migration-Development Nexus Revised: A Perspective from the Sahel.